Kukla's Korner Hockey

The Maple Leafs don’t just belong to Toronto, they’re part of Canadian lore and a significant slice of the national hockey pie.

That’s what Mike Wilson kept telling himself, so as not to throw himself in front of the truck that carted away a lifetime of Leaf collectibles from his 1,000-square foot Forest Hill man cave to a new home in the Museum of Canadian History in Gatineau, Que.

Three years of negotiation with museum officials on how to best document, display and of course set a price for the bulk of Wilson’s 2,000-plus items will be finalized at a Friday announcement, believed to be the largest private stock of sports memorabilia ever sold in Canada. The MCH will pay ‘The Ultimate Leafs Fan’ a bit south of $2 million, says Jenny Ellison, curator of sport and leisure for the museum, a figure reached by averaging several independent appraisals.